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Extended through April 22, 2017

Cy Twombly

Orpheus

December 1, 2016–April 22, 2017
rue de Ponthieu, Paris

Installation view Artwork © Cy Twombly Foundation. Photo: Mike Bruce

Installation view

Artwork © Cy Twombly Foundation. Photo: Mike Bruce

Installation view Artwork © Cy Twombly Foundation. Photo: Mike Bruce

Installation view

Artwork © Cy Twombly Foundation. Photo: Mike Bruce

Installation view Artwork © Cy Twombly Foundation. Photo: Mike Bruce

Installation view

Artwork © Cy Twombly Foundation. Photo: Mike Bruce

Works Exhibited

Cy Twombly, Orpheus, 1979 Oil-based house paint, [paint stick], and wax crayon on canvas, 77 × 131 ¾ inches (195.7 × 334.5 cm)Private Collection© Cy Twombly Foundation

Cy Twombly, Orpheus, 1979

Oil-based house paint, [paint stick], and wax crayon on canvas, 77 × 131 ¾ inches (195.7 × 334.5 cm)
Private Collection
© Cy Twombly Foundation

Cy Twombly, Veil of Orpheus, 1968 House paint, crayon, and graphite pencil on primed canvas, 90 × 192 inches (228.6 × 487.7 cm)Private Collection© Cy Twombly Foundation

Cy Twombly, Veil of Orpheus, 1968

House paint, crayon, and graphite pencil on primed canvas, 90 × 192 inches (228.6 × 487.7 cm)
Private Collection
© Cy Twombly Foundation

About

Oh you lost god! You unending trace!
Only because at last enmity rent and scattered you
are we now the hearers and a mouth of Nature.
—Rainer Maria Rilke, Sonnets to Orpheus

Gagosian is pleased to present an exhibition of paintings and works on paper by Cy Twombly. It coincides with the retrospective Cy Twombly, opening at Centre Pompidou, Paris, on November 30.

The selection of works, dating between 1968 and 1979, takes as its subject the figure of Orpheus. Orpheus, the mythic archetype representing the artist and the creative process itself was also the subject of Sonnets to Orpheus, a cycle of fifty-five sonnets written by Rainer Maria Rilke in 1922, which were of great inspiration to Twombly. The works on show have never been brought together until now.

Orpheus’s lyrical skills were such that he was able to convince Hades, god of the underworld, to return his wife and muse, Eurydice. Hades’s one stipulation was that Orpheus not turn to look at Eurydice as he walked back toward the world of the living. But Orpheus could not resist and she was cast back forever. Later, he would be torn apart by Dionysian maenads.

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Ô dieu perdu ! Trace infinie ! Et c’est pour cela seul,
pour la haine à la fin acharnée à te disperser,
qu’aujourd’hui la nature a notre écoute et notre bouche.
—Rainer Maria Rilke, Sonnets à Orphée

Gagosian est heureuse de présenter une exposition de peintures et d’œuvres sur papier de Cy Twombly. L’exposition coïncidera avec la rétrospective Cy Twombly, qui débute le 30 novembre au Centre Pompidou, à Paris.

Les œuvres sélectionnées, datant de 1968 à 1979, ont pour sujet principal la personne d’Orphée. Orphée, l’archétype mythique représentant l’artiste et le processus de création lui-même était aussi le sujet de Sonnets à Orphée, un cycle de cinquante-cinq sonnets écrits par Rainer Maria Rilke en 1922, qui furent une grande source d’inspiration pour Twombly. Les œuvres présentées n’ont jamais été exposées ensemble auparavant.

Les talents lyriques d’Orphée étaient tels qu’ils lui permirent de convaincre Hadès, dieu de l’enfer, de faire revenir à la vie sa femme décédée et muse, Eurydice. La condition d’Hadès était qu’Orphée ne se retourne pas pour regarder Eurydice pendant qu’il la ramenait dans le monde vivant. Mais Orphée ne put résister et elle fut renvoyée pour toujours. Il fut ensuite ravagé par les Ménades dionysiennes.

Le mythe d’Orphée a aussi inspiré Le Voile d’Orphée, œuvre du compositeur français Pierre Henry, une composition de musique concrète écrite en 1953. Dans cet enregistrement, Henry déchire du tissu pour marquer le moment où Orphée perd Eurydice pour la seconde fois. Le bruit du tissu déchiré, symbolisant l’écart entre la vie et la mort, est transformé par Twombly dans une peinture à dimension spectaculaire portant le même titre.

Rilke écrivait des artistes qu’ils sont des liens entre le passé, le présent et le futur. Avec quelques gestes pressés, Twombly pouvait évoquer des siècles de souvenirs d’histoire et de pratique artistique. Dans Le Voile d’Orphée (1968), il trace des lignes à la craie de cire sur des panneaux de toile peinte, créant ce qu’il appelait « un délai sans temps ». Dans la peinture Orpheus (1979), il inscrit le nom d’Orphée en alphabet cyrillique en référence à son démembrement final. Dans son interprétation du mythe occidental, Twombly trace «un mouvement en deux temps: infinité et oubli; destruction et transcendance; montée et descente». (Mary Jacobus, Reading Cy Twombly: Poetry in Paint).

Un catalogue illustré accompagnera l’exposition.

Image of Cy Twombly's Treatise on the Veil (Second Version), 1970

Cy Twombly: Imperfect Paradise

Eleonora Di Erasmo, cocurator of Un/veiled: Cy Twombly, Music, Inspirations, a program of concerts, video screenings, and works by Cy Twombly at the Fondazione Nicola Del Roscio, Rome, reflects on the resonances and networks of inspiration between the artist and music. The program was the result of an extensive three-year study, done at the behest of Nicola Del Roscio in the Rome and Gaeta offices of the Cy Twombly Foundation, intended to collect, document, and preserve compositions by musicians around the world who have been inspired by Twombly’s work, or to establish an artistic dialogue with them.

Black and white image of the interior of Cy Twombly’s apartment in Rome

Cy Twombly: Making Past Present

In 2020, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, announced their plan for a survey of Cy Twombly’s artwork alongside selections from their permanent ancient Greek and Roman collection. The survey was postponed due to the lockdowns necessitated by the coronavirus pandemic, but was revived in 2022 with a presentation at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles from August 2 through October 30. In 2023, the exhibition will arrive at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. The curator for the exhibition, Christine Kondoleon, and Kate Nesin, author of Cy Twombly’s Things (2014) and advisor for the show, speak with Gagosian director Mark Francis about the origin of the exhibition and the aesthetic and poetic resonances that give the show its title: Making Past Present.

Cy Twombly, Untitled (Say Goodbye, Catallus, to the Shores of Asia Minor), 1994, oil, acrylic, oil stick, crayon, and graphite on three canvases,

Say Goodbye, Catullus, to the Shores of Asia Minor

Thierry Greub tracks the literary references in Cy Twomblys epic painting of 1994.

Carrie Mae Weems’s The Louvre (2006), on the cover of Gagosian Quarterly, Summer 2021

Now available
Gagosian Quarterly Summer 2021

The Summer 2021 issue of Gagosian Quarterly is now available, featuring Carrie Mae Weems’s The Louvre (2006) on its cover.

Cy Twombly, Untitled, 1990, acrylic, wax crayon, and pencil on handmade paper, 30 ⅝ × 21 ⅝ inches (77.8 × 54.8 cm)

Twombly and the Poets

Anne Boyer, the inaugural winner of the Cy Twombly Award in Poetry, composes a poem in response to TwomblyAristaeus Mourning the Loss of His Bees (1973) and introduces a portfolio of the painters works accompanied by the poems that inspired them.

Gerhard Richter’s Helen (1963) on the cover of Gagosian Quarterly, Spring 2021

Now available
Gagosian Quarterly Spring 2021

The Spring 2021 issue of Gagosian Quarterly is now available, featuring Gerhard Richter’s Helen (1963) on its cover.